‘Ciro Blazevic manages to be the life and soul of Bosnia’s party’ on theguardian.com

‘Ciro Blazevic manages to be the life and soul of Bosnia’s party’ on theguardian.com

Interviewing Ciro Blazevic is an exhausting experience. He will shake your hand for what he perceives as a good question one minute, and abuse you for a bad one the next.

When he took over the Bosnia national side last summer, the popular Meho Kodro had just been sacked as coach, 19 players had effectively gone on strike in protest, fans were boycotting games and the football association board was being accused of embezzlement. Yet if Bosnia beat Turkey at home this evening, they will be guaranteed second place in their group and a probable play-off place for World Cup qualification. Suddenly all the talk is of football leading the process of unification in what remains a fractured country.